Shirt packaging



Oct. 23 1956 A. B. COLE ETAL SHIRT PACKAGING 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed .April 19, 1954 I INVENTORS Arthur B. C-ole Earl P. Buchmiller BY WHITEHEAD a V061. PER 6M4 ATTORNEYS Oct. 23, 1956 A. COLE rm.

SHIRT PACKAGING .2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 19, 1954 Fig. 5v

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2 I 5 7 C 2 .I L x 4 I .W I F B United States Patent Ofiice 2,7618% Patented Got. 23, 1956 SHIRT PACKAGING Arthur B. Cole, Arapahoe County, near Denver, and Earl P. Buchmiller, Denver, Colo., assignors to Die Craft Corporation, acorporation of Colorado Application April 19, 1954, Serial No. 423,927

3 Claims. (Cl. 22371) This invention relates to the packaging of shirts and the like, and more particularly to an improved and simplified form or card of a semi-rigid sheet of cardboard or like material upon which the body of a shirt is mounted and folded as a unit package. A primary object of the invention is to provide an improved and simplified shirt package form, hereinafter referred to as a form, which is especially adapted for use with a soft-bodied softcollared shirt, such as sport shirts, to hold such a shirt as a neatly-folded, compact and attractive package.

Other objects of the invention are to provide an improved and simplified form for a soft-bodied soft-collared shirt which: (a) furnishes a base whereupon the shirt may be folded to a fixed presentable package as a finish step in a laundering or manufacturing operation; ([2) permits the shirt to be folded into a package by folds along the natural creases of the shirt with a minimum of wrinkling and distortion of the fabric, especially at the collar and throat portions thereof; permits the shirt to be folded into a package having the same overall width and length as shirt packages mounted upon conventional forms, thereby enabling the use of standard sized boxes and cartons for the shipment and-storage of the shirt packages; (d) may be used as a flat unit with the collar and chest portion of the shirt mounted in a smooth flat position on one side of the package as for'display, and with the arms and remainder of the shirt body folded against the back side of the package, or when so mounted may be used as a folded unit with the collar and chest portion of the shirt at the outer surface 'of the folded unit and with the arms and remainder of the shirt body inside the package fold; (e) is adapted to hold the shirt collar securely upon the form in a manner which conforms with the contouring of the cut of the collar so as to permit the collar to lie flat without distortion or creasing; (f) is adapted to hold the shirt collar securely upon the form and within the body of the form a short distance from an edge of the form, thereby'protecting the edge of the collar from contact with the sides of containers and the like wherein the package might be stored or from any contact which results in the handling of the package along its edges; and (g) is of an exceedingly simple and economical construction whereon a shirt may be mounted by quick simple movements and be fastened thereto by simple paper bands or the like.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, 'all of which more fully hereinafter appear, our invention comprises certain novel and useful constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter described, and as defined in the appended claims, and illustrated in preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a flat blank shaped as a shirt package form in accordance with the present invention, with dashed lines thereacross indicating fold lines and with solid lines thereon indicating cut lines. When viewed with the subsequently described figures, Fig. 1 may be considered as a rear view of the form.

Figure 2 is a rear view of the form with a shirt mounted thereon, at the front side thereof, and showing the shirt sleeves as being folded rearwardly against the rear side as an initial step in the forming of the shirt package.

Figure '3 is similar to Fig. 2, but showing the tail of the shirt as being folded upwardly and rearwardly against the rear side of the form as a further step in the forming of the package.

Figure 4 is a rear view of the form with a shirt mounted thereon as in Fig. 3, but showing the lower portion of the package "as being folded upwardly and rearwardly against the rear side of the upper portion of the package as a yet further step in the forming of the package.

Figure 5 is -a rear view of the folded package, similar to Fig. 4 but on an enlarged scale and with connector straps about each end of the package to complete the unit.

Figure '6 is a front view of the unit shown at Fig. 5.

Figure 7 is a fragmentary portion of the blank shown at Fig. 1, but on a greatly enlarged scale and showing in clearer detail cut lines within the body of the form.

Figure 8 is a fragmentary section as viewed from the indicated line 8-8 at Fig. 6, but on a greatly enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawing, and more particularly to Figs. 1 and 7, my improved shirt package form 10 is formed as a substantially rectangular blank or sheet of cardboard or similar semi-rigid but easily bendable material which is sufficiently large .in area for the fiat mounting of the collar and chest portion of a shirt, with the collar near the top edge 11 of the blank as hereinafter described. This blank is laterally symmetrical between the top edge 11 and bottom edgelZ which lies parallel to each other edge, I

and the 'iateral or side edges 13 are perpendicular to the top and bottom edges. These lateral side edges are shown as being and are preferably straight, in spaced parallelism. The outline of the form It} is completed by rounding the corners at each side of the top edge as at 143- -to improve the appearance of the unit and lessen the tendency to catch on other articles and by notches 15 at the top edge alongside each corner 14 which are adapted to receive bands as hereinafter described.

The form 10 is divided into an upper panel 16 and a lower panel 17 which are separated by a pair of closelyspaced parallel fold lines 18 which extend across the blank inzspaced parallelism with the top and bottom edges at -a position'slightly below .the median of the blank so that the height of the upper panel 16 is greater than that of the lower. The strip 19 between the pair of parallel fold lines 18 permits the lower panel 17 to be folded at eachfold line and be-moved rearwardly'and thence upwardly to lie in spaced parallelism with the upper panel but separated therefrom by a space equivalent to the width of the spacing strip 19 as indicated by X at Fig. '8.

The collar of a shirt to be mounted upon the form 10 is fastened thereto upon .a trapezoidal-shaped tongue 20 upstanding within the body-of the upper panel 16, near the top edge 11, this'tongue 20 is defined by an apex edge out 21 across the panel parallel with the top edge 11, and inclined side edge cuts 22 diverging from each side of the apex edge out .21, all in a'laterally symmetrical pattern. The base of this trapezoidal shaped tongue 20 is not marked so that the tongue is integral with the plane of the panel 16 and resiliently resists a pull out of such planeaccording tothe resilience and strength of the material forming the blank, it being anticipated that the strength of the material will be such as to hold a shirt collar tucked thereover upon the'board. The apex edge out 21 is offset at the center of the tongue to form a tab 23 which-extends into the body of the tongue to assist tion as hereinafter described. The lower corner of each side cut 22 is inwardly rounded as at 24 to permit the tongue to be pulled away from the plane of the blank a short space without tearing and to avoid pinching of the collar of a shirt mounted thereon.

The steps of mounting a shirt upon this form are illustrated at Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. First, the back of a shirt S is placed against the front side of the form and the tongue 20 is pressed forwardly to be tucked under the back of the collar C between the collar and neckband portion of the shirt so that the shirt is held onto the form 10 at the collar. The tongue 20 is then allowed to spring back into the plane of the form and the tab 23 is shifted forwardly to the forward edge of the neckband to lock the collar thereon. Next, the arms of the shirt are folded against the back side of the form 10 and the tail portion folded to the width of the form as clearly illustrated at Fig. 2. Next, the tail is folded upwardly and rearwardly against the back of the form as clearly illustrated at Fig. 3.

The shirt may be pinned or otherwise fastened to the form 10 upon completion of the folding of the tail against the back side to comprise a completed package, or the package may be further compacted by folding the form about the fold lines 18 to bring the lower panel 17 rearwardly against the back of the upper panel as clearly illustrated at Fig. 4. Then, the package may be pinned or otherwise fastened together, and a preferred manner of so fastening comprises the looping of bands 25 of paper or the like about the shirt package at each side thereof and lying in the notches as clearly illustrated at Figs. 5 and 6. Such paper fastening bands are commonly and conventionally used in wrapping garments and need not be described in detail, it being apparent that they cooperate with the shirt package form 10 by being held in the notches 15.

An important advantage of this improved form lies in the construction and arrangement of the tongue 20. This tongue may be shaped in a manner which will permit any of several collar styles to lie flatly upon the package by variation of the inclination of the side edge cuts 22 and thereby fully protect the collar from wrinkling and distortion. The tongue further holds the top edge of the shirt collar away from the top edge 11 of the form and thereby provides a shirt package having one edge of the form extending beyond the edges or collar of the shirt folded thereon. This construction permits the shirt and especially the collar to be kept clean while it is being handled and stored for it may be rested upon or held by the top edge 11 and it is unnecessary to touch the shirt itself. The bottom panel 17, being shorter than the top panel, cooperates to attain this result since it will not extend to the top edge 11 when folded into position.

It will be understood that the tongue is of such size and the side edges thereof are so inclined that the width of the tongue at the bottom is that of the flattened back portion of the collar of a large sized shirt when folded and the width of the top of the tongue is smaller than the flattened back portion of the collar of a small sized shirt so that when the collar of a shirt of any of the ordinary sizes is slid over the top of the tongue it will slide down thereon until the edges of said flattened portion of the collar engage the edges of the tongue and the shirt is thereby centered on the blank. The top edge of the collar will always settle upon the top edge of the tongue so that the tab may be positioned over the top edge of the collar and the collar thereby locked to the tongue and the shirt thereby locked in centered position upon the form, thereby facilitating the folding of the shirt in proper position about the form.

While we have described a particular manner of mounting a shirt upon this form, it will be understood that the shirt may be folded upon the form in any other suitable manner, and that the particular manner in which the shirt is folded upon the board is no part of the present invention except insofar as the folding of the shirt upon the form cooperates with the form to provide an improved and compact package. Likewise, the manner of fastening the shirt to the form is no part of the invention except insofar as the fastening means cooperates with the form to provide a more compact package as herein described.

While we have illustrated and described many details of construction, alternatives and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art which are within the scope and spirit of our invention; hence it is our desire that our protection be not limited to the details herein illustrated and described, but only by the proper scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A form for carrying shirts folded thereon as a package comprising a substantially rectangular sheet of semi-rigid, resilient material such as cardboard, one edge of which defines the top of the form, a substantially trapezoidal shaped collar-retaining tongue cut to shape completely within the face of the sheet near and alongside said top edge adapted to normally lie in the plane of the sheet and a collar-locking tab at the tongue cut adapted to normally lie in the plane of the sheet, said tongue shape being defined by a cut at the trapezoid apex parallel to said top edge and cuts at the trapezoid sides extending from each end of the apex cut into and away from said top edge and said apex cut being formed with a projection into the tongue defining said tab.

2. In combination, a sport shirt or the like and a form therefor, said form comprising a rectangular sheet of semi-rigid, resilient material such as cardboard, one edge of which defines the top of the form, a collar-retaining tongue cut to shape completely within the face of the sheet near and alongside said top edge adapted to normally lie in the plane of the sheet and being defined by a cut paralleling said top edge and side cuts at each end of said paralleling cut extending into the form and away from said top edge and a collar-locking tab at the cut defining said tongue adapted to normally lie in the plane of the sheet and being formed by a portion of said parallel cut projecting into the tongue, the sleeves and body of the shirt or like being folded about the sides and bottom of said form, the collar of said shirt or like being flattened and the back side thereof being mounted upon said tongue with the tongue being resiliently lifted above the plane of the sheet and inserted between the collar and neckband of the shirt to resiliently hold the collar against the surface of the form, and said collarlocking tab being resiliently lifted above the plane of the sheet and set upon the collar over the tongue and thereby preventing movement of the collar from the tongue.

3. A form for carrying shirts thereon as a package comprising a substantially rectangular sheet of semirigid, resilient material such as cardboard, one edge of which defines the top of the form, a collar-retaining tongue cut to shape completely within the face of the sheet near and alongside said top edge adapted to normally lie in the plane of the sheet and being defined by a cut substantially paralleling said top edge and side cuts at each end of said paralleling cut extending into the form and away from the top edge and a collar-lock ing tab at said paralleling cut being defined by a portion of said paralleling cut projecting into the tongue.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,039,384 Blumenstock May 5, 1936 2,243,230 Vandermade May 27, 1941 2,487,761 McFall et al Nov. 8, 1949 2,633,275 Tomarin Mar. 31, 1953 2,648,469 Youngblood Aug. 11, 1953 

